Higurashi is, up to now, the very best Anime I have ever seen, along with its second season, kai, but we will talk about this one.
As you may have heard, higurashi is a psychological horror anime. This means it plays with your mind more than it does with your capability of holding your puke. And I really mean this. The gore of this anime is intense, but it's so well executed that you won't even realize due to the complexity of the plot progress.
Story: 10
The story follows this group of kids who live in a small town called Hinamizawa, and holy crap, a lot of stuff has happened in Hinamizawa before you arrived. The main focus of the plot is around a curse that makes people kill themselves. I will say nothing more, so you can watch it for yourself :D
I will warn you right away, that this anime uses the so called "Omnibus format", which takes several stories and connects them through something they have in common, building a unique one from them (See Amagami SS). However, this format has its reason to be in the context of the anime. You will catch it when the time comes, and if you watch the second season, it will be even better.
Art: 7
The art style of this anime manages to capture the atmosphere of a rural area, as well as the scenarios and "camera" angles are perfect for most of the horrorific and comedy moments as well.
The weak point of the art is without a doubt, the character design, it is kinda clumsy and some of the scary moments are ruined due to some of the expressions and the way they are built. However, this is not enough to take the atmosphere away completely. Some people I've shown this anime get scared even more because of them. I think it's a personal standards thing.
Sound: 8
The anime constantly plays crying grasshoppers at different dynamic volumes, to kinda set the pace and atmosphere to what's happening. I think it's kind of a narration or suspense-building thing. Even the background music steps back then the Grasshoppers are crying. Pay special attention to these moments. Speaking of background music, i thought it was awesome. It builds up a lot of suspense when it must, intensifies happy and comedy moments and every other aspect is covered. Basically what it should be.
The voice acting is good, although some comedy moments felt forced through the characters voices.
As you may have read on my other reviews, i skip the Opening and Endings. I don't really care about them.
Characters: 10
Through all the Higurashi journey (and this also counts the 2nd season), these characters are shown to spend through a lot, in many different ways. They are also shown to have many diferent sides of their personalities, and not even the most "experienced" one shows to have "no emotions" nor is inexpressive either. It is really wonderful to see all these characters go through a lot, and watching the respective reactions to the different situations they are put into every time is just priceless; and executed in a way that you may not have seen before (or will ever again).
Enjoyment: 10
This anime is simply outstanding and I absolutely recommend it to anyone that has not watched it. It really has a way to have you hooked, entertained, scared and curious all the time. You will feel like there are questions unanswered, but give it time. When you finish this, watch the second season until the end and you will be truly satisfied.
Damn! I even want to watch this all over again for the 3rd time Lol.
Overall: 10
I really don't have words for this. You could say I'm biased, but I just don't find a way this could be bad, no matter how I look at it :D
